CLASSIC CRIME
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BLACKSTONE FELL by Martin Edwards (Head of Zeus £20, 448pp)
BLACKSTONE FELL
by Martin Edwards (Head of Zeus £20,448pp)
For his latest classic mystery, Martin Edwards serves up a captivating blend of ingredients familiar to fans of crime from the golden age. A remote village on the Yorkshire moors hides secrets: two murders, 300 years apart, have been committed in the close confines of Blackstone Tower.
When an intrepid journalist, one of Fleet Street’s rare female reporters from the 1930s, also meets an untimely end, it’s left to private investigator Rachel Savernake, beautiful, wealthy and highly intelligent, to identify the culprits and fix it. evil that penetrates Blackstone to exorcise. fell.
What goes on behind the walls of the sanatorium where psychiatric treatment can be fatal? What can one learn from a spiritist whose séances, though fraudulent, provide vital clues?
The plot is intricate but never less than compelling. Martin Edwards holds out with the best of classic crime.
GREEN FOR DANGER by Christianna Brand (British Library £9.99, 256pp)
GREEN FOR DANGER
by Christianna Brand (UK Library £9.99, 256pp)
Death is never far away from a wartime hospital. But in an operating theater on the south coast, with its heavy influx of air raid victims, a crisis arises when a patient unexpectedly dies under anesthesia.
The easy assumption of an accident caused by overtime is set aside when it is made clear that someone has tampered with the equipment. Still, Inspector Cockrill doubts foul play—that is, until a second death, this time from one of the nurses, leaves no doubt that a killer is on the loose.
Christianna Brand uses her first-hand knowledge of the Blitz to paint a vivid picture of a tight-knit medical team under immense pressure. The nerves are stretched to breaking point by Cockrill’s persistent questions as he tries to force a confession. Meanwhile, the shocking truth remains tantalizingly out of reach.
THE AFFAIR OF THE THIRTY-NINE CUFFLINKS by James Anderson (Allison & Busby £8.99, 351pp)
THE CASE OF THE NINE CUFFLINKS
by James Anderson (Allison & Busby £8.99, 351pp)
There’s more than a touch of PG Wodehouse in James Anderson’s crime novels. The latter’s contribution is to enter a murder along with a detective who is deceptively reverent to the aristocracy.
The last two weekend parties at Lord Burford’s rural retreat resulted in the violent death of a guest.
Then nine relatives gather for the funeral of one of them. What follows is a well-structured mystery message of a scandal feared by the rest of the group, all of whom have something to hide. For black comedy, James Anderson is hard to beat.